Along the fairly busy salt caravan route,
Near a well in the middle of a desert,
Was a tree weeping in isolation.
So, I sat down to hear the truth.

"Why? Why? Why could I not go with them?
Death has taken away my companions.
This hot and dry climate took away my friends
And made me a loner"

"For a long time, neither were my branches cut for domestics,
Nor camels allowed to eat my leaves.
I was made sacred and became a venue for traditional ceremonies."

I paid utmost attention to the talking tree
And realized he wants to be partly free
He doesn't want to die
And he doesn't want to be made a tie

Standing up to leave the loner,
The Ténéré tree,
A careless driver smashed into him with his trunk.
The loner broke one of his brittle trunks.

As it kept weeping I solicited him.
Not long after that,
Another absent-minded truck driver, brought an end to the loner's life.
He broke his other trunk and died.

Alone with the loner
Learning how being lonely could be
I decided to note it down
That even though he was down
He was fortunate enough to tell someone his story
And a person to witness his end.
© Sean